This week saw the annual IMROlive music venue of the year awards ceremony take place at IMRO headquarters in Dublin. Cork had a strong showing with the Opera House and Cyprus Avenue picking up awards. Both venues have played a part in bringing quality acts to the city over the past year, despite what has been perceived as a recent stagnation in international touring acts visiting these parts.

Coming out on top was the Cork Opera House with the IMRO National Live Music Venue of the Year award, voted by the public. The past year has seen a marked improvement in the range and quality of acts performing at the Opera House, some of the highlights including: Ryan Adams, Talvin Singh, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, as well as Irish acts Fred, Niwel Tsumbu, Jack L and James Vincent McMorrow.
Filling up the calendar too were a range of quality comedy acts, as well as perpetual OH favourites like Daniel O’Donnell, various showband nostalgia nights, even Crystal Swing and a string of sold-out Jedward shows, but tickets will be sold and bills must be paid! Special mention must be given for stand-out events such as the series of shows for The Reich Effect (celebrating Steve Reich’s 75th birthday), The Knife’s Darwin electro-opera ‘Tomorrow, in a Year’, Icebreaker & BJ Cole performing Brian Eno’s Apollo, and the UCC Gamelan Ensemble (who are returning in April).

Upcoming highlights at the Cork Opera House include Professor Green, The Magnetic Fields and Transcendentalists (Jóhann Jóhannsson, Hauschka and Dustin O’Halloran), with some impressive local & Irish acts lined up in the form of Mick Flannery, Kormac’s Big Band with the West Cork Ukelele Orchestra, and Cork Rocks The House.

Meanwhile, Cyprus Avenue have been awarded Best Live Music Venue in Munster for the second time, having won the inaugural award in 2008. Last year saw some epic, loud gigs like Swans, Earth and Therapy, and brought back classic Irish acts Whipping Boy and Cry Before Dawn. International touring highlights (for this author at least) included And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Austra, John Grant and The Antlers.

Goldsoundz returns to the Cork clubbing scene once again but with greater fanfare, self assurance and even more grandiose claims than ever before! Goldsoundz Music and Cocktail Club promises style, decadence, eclectic tasteful music and cocktail waitresses providing table service in the luxurious setting of the Liquid Lounge on a Saturday night!

Goldsoundz is named after a Pavement song, but its latest incarnation also draws on the Tom Waitsâ€™ song â€˜(Looking for) The Heart Of A Saturday Nightâ€˜, and promises something special to all those who â€˜are tryin’ to wipe out ev’ry trace [of] all the other daysâ€™ . The music will be a mixture of alternative modern classics, with some sixties music, jazz and funk all selected to compliment the jazzey loungey ambience of the liquid lounge.

Patrons are encouraged to â€˜be reachinâ€™ their peakâ€™ (another lyric from said Tom Waits song) and dress stylishly and/or in retro style. Recommendations for style ideas include 50s-60s lounge/surfer style or how you might dress going to an old Jazz Club….retro suits or cocktail dresses would be brilliant!

Goldsoundzâ€™s famous cocktail menu features a selection drinks all named after classic songs, anyone for a ‘Blue Monday’, ‘Rock The Casbah’ or a ‘Sexy Boy’? ….but do beware the cocktail named ‘Girlfriend In A Coma’!!

Complimentary food will be served at the launch party on Saturday September 6th in the Liquid Lounge!!

The Liquid lounge in association with Craichouse promotions is proud to announce the creation of a brand new comedy night for Cork city.
This comedy night will be called “GAS” and will be on every Tuesday from the 18th of September in the Liquid Lounge, Marlboro Street, Cork.

GAS will primarily be aimed at the student population of The Rebel capital but is open to any fan of comedy. We will host some of the best new and established comedians working in Ireland today.

The people behind the comedy come with a good pedigree; they have been responsible for the running of The Craichouse Comedy Club For the last 3 Years and in that time it has become Corks premier comedy venue for new and up and coming comedians. We’ve helped launch the careers of local comedy icons such as Maeve Higgins, Eleanor Tiernan, Kevin Goldsmith, Johnny P, and Ross Brown and more. They are also on a first name terms with every new and up and coming comedian in Ireland today. This allows them the expertise to bring only the best comedians for the students of Cork.

They have also had successful runs in the 2004, 2005 and 2006 Kilkenny Cat Laughs Comedy Festivals, where more than 300 people filled the seats each year. And this year held the inaugural “Craic me up” comedy competition to find the best new comedian in Ireland.

The good people at Gas will also be giving a very new comedian an open spot every Tuesday night thus continuing out commitment to showcasing emerging stand-up comedians, so if you think you are brave enough why not try out. So if you like your comedy Raw and in your face then GAS is the place for you, sure it is bound to be gas.

Neil Hickey
Neil Hickey began his stand up career just over three years ago, and in this short time he has performed his thoughtful, warm and witty brand of humour in all the major comedy venues across Ireland. A native of Dublin, Neil is a regular performer in the city’s most established comedy clubs, including the International Comedy Club, The Comedy Cellar, The Capital Comedy Club and the Laughter Lounge. In 2005 Neil won the Bulmers International Newcomers Comedy Comp and as a result supported Bill Bailey in Dublin’s famous Olympia Theatre.
Following this, Neil made his Irish television debut appearing on RTE’s Liffey Laugh stand up show, and then rounded off a fantastic 2006 by winning the Irish heat of the Amused Moose Laugh off Comp. More recently, Neil was selected to perform at the 2007 Irish Just For Laughs Montreal Showcase, and performed as part of the official line up for this year’s Kilkenny Cats Laughs Comedy Festival. Neil Hickeys stand up career looks like it will continue blossom for many years to come.

Tuesday Oct 2nd

Sharon Mannion
Sharon made her stand up debut at the Kilkenny Cat Laughs Festival 2005. Since then she has been gigging regularly in The Hapenny Inn (also as M.C), The International, Bankers, Capital Comedy Club, Crawdaddys, (Dublin), Cuba (Galway), Empire (Belfast), Comedy Den (Limerick) and various clubs around the country. She was a finalist in last year’s Best Stand up newcomer competition at the Bulmers International Comedy Festival, and she appears regularly with the Hapenny Laugh and The Craic Pack improv comedy troupes. She was also Runner-up in the 2007 Funny Women competition. A rising star, she’s one to watch.

Ross Browne
Ross is a very funny, self indulgent, I love me and so do all the girls in Ireland kind of comedian. He is also a part-time wrestler, so hecklers beware.
The Craichouse had a front seat to the blossoming career of Ross and the success of the club is in no small part due to the excellent job that Ross does as M.C. A ball of energy that is not afraid to do anything to get the crowd going, he’s a sharp dressed man with an equally sharp tongue who will be the next big comedy superstar to come out of Cork.

Tuesday Oct 16th

JOHN CAPLIS
John has been performing comedy on the Irish comedy circuit for over three years now. He made his first appearance as a nervous open mic at the comedy club in Scholars Bar UL during his days there as a history and politics student.
Luckily for John it went well and since that first night nearly three years ago he has gone on to perform in all of Ireland’s main comedy clubs including The Laughter Lounge in Dublin, The Empire in Belfast and City Limits in Cork.
In the last year he has also supported Des Bishop, Neil Delamere and Jim Eoin. Across the water he has performed at the world famous Comedy Store in London and currently runs and hosts monthly comedy clubs at Riddler’s Bar in Limerick City and the Kenyon Comedy Club in Nenagh Co. Tipperary, which hosts top acts from all over Ireland. John describes his stand-up routine as a “fusion of anecdotes from his working life which includes reading funeral notices on pirate radio in Limerick city to picking fruit in obscure remote Australian towns.

Tuesday Oct 23rd

Gar Murran
In September 2006 Gar won the Bulmers Comedy Competition held in Dublin and the prize for this was to support Puppetry of the Penis for two nights in the Olympia Theatre to over a thousand people and he has not looked back since. He has performed in The Laughter Lounge, The International Bar, Comedy Cellar, Capital Comedy,(Battle of the Axe) Ha’Penny Bridge Inn in Dublin, The Roisin Dubh, The Cuba Club, and DeBurgo’s in Galway amongst others.

Tuesday Oct 30th

Fred Cooke
County Meath has already given Irish comedy two Perrier Award winning legends in Tommy Tiernan and Dylan Moran. Fred Cooke is hotly tipped by those in the know to join their coveted ranks in a couple of years- so see him here first. Having started out in comedy by running gigs while he was still in college, Fred has already gone on to support such acts as Jason Byrne, Ross Noble and David McSavage. His career seems to be following a similar trajectory to that of Jason Byrne, as his off the wall, high octane, manic brand of surreal genius has seen him become a crowd favourite amongst Irish audiences as well as being in insane demand in the country’s third level institutions. He has played all over Ireland and Britain and has even performed in New York, Australia and even Barcelona and Madrid. Catch him here so you can tell all your friends you were a fan before he became huge.

Tuesday Nov 6th

Keith Farnan
Having appeared on Irish Television in the second series of the Liffey Laughs, and the BBC Comedy series, One Night Stand, Keith Farnan is beginning to make an impression on a wider audience with his intelligent and charming onstage persona. With performances in the Edinburgh Festival “Best of the Irish” and the Kilkenny Cat Laughs Festival, and having played across Ireland and the UK, Keith is rapidly building up a reputation as one of the most energetic and entertaining of the new Irish acts to watch.

As a regular host of Ireland’s biggest comedy venue, the Laughter Lounge, as well as a frequent headliner in Ireland’s oldest venue, the Comedy Cellar, he has honed his ability to weave audience interaction with sharp observations to create a mesmerizing set. He has also enthralled American audiences in some of the biggest clubs in New York, performing with comedians and writers from Saturday Night Live and ESPN as well as appearing in the New York Underground Comedy Festival.

Each night the doors will open for the first show at 6.30pm and at 9.15pm for the second show. There will be two performances, one from 7pm and one from approximately 9.30pm onwards. Please note that the advertised time of the show is the start time.
Please note that the Spiegeltent is a mixed seated/standing venue and your ticket guarantees entry to the tent but does not guarantee a seat. Subject to licence and permissions.Due to licensing laws, all tickets for the Spiegeltent must be booked at least 24 hours in advance

It’s not all about the Spiegeltent of course; Fans of jazz, choral, world and chamber music will find events to suit them in venues like the Triskel Arts Centre, the Everyman Palace Theatre and St Fin Barre’s cathedral.

Aiken Promotions have finally confirmed the latest two acts to fill the Marquee bill for this year. Elton John will perform on July 9th, while 50 Cent appears on July 4th. This is great news for the thousands of music lovers who are great fans of both artists; no doubt there will be a significant overlap of the attendance at both concerts.

Beale Street Blues Bar has been open almost a year now and was previously mentioned here. They’ve got some great weekly bands/sessions and the odd visiting act. Right now we don’t list weekly events on the main page to keep it clear and concise, but I wanted to put these somewhere they would be seen. So…

Every Tuesday TEXAS HOLDâ€™EM POKER NIGHT@9pm
If your not in you canâ€™t win. For more details call into Slainte,

Every Wednesday @ 9pm .Ceili All Stars and Friends Open Trad Session
â€œTrad is not what it used to beâ€¦.â€

Funky Friday Every week with the Funkiest of Local djs spinning the Freakiest of tunes from Rock, Punk, Indie Jazz, Hip Hop, Electro, soul, disco and many more
” We got the Funk !…” â€œ Get your Freak onâ€

Every Sunday BBQ and Lounge music @ 6pm with an array of local musicians from Cork.
Check out Slainte for a bit of Craic agus Ceoil! Purveyors of Wines , Beers, Spirits , Ales & Especially Tall Tales!
A Feast not to be missed!

Good news for fans of stand-up comedy, as regular comedy nights are becoming more established in Cork.

Stand Up And Be Counted Comedy Club will set up residency in the Tikki Lounge on Little Hanover St. on the 27th of February, and continues every Tuesday with no cover charge.

The Craichouse comedy night at Eddies Bar (formerly the L.V.) has been going strong for over two years. An established comedy club with an ever-evolving lineup, Craichouse also showcases new talent and has helped launch the careers of many aspiring local comedians. In the coming weeks, a new competition called “Craic me up” will see emerging talent battle it out for the chance to gig at the Kilkenny Cat Laughs comedy festival. Full details of upcoming lineups can be found on the Craichouse website.

Cyprus Avenue will host a new monthly comedy event — Barrel O’Laughs — kicking off on Friday February 23rd with Ian Coppinger plus guests. Tickets at â‚¬10 are available on tickets.ie and from the Old Oak bar.

The Lisa Richards Comedy Night is a touring co-op comedy night with a range of decent Irish talent on the books. For those down in wesht Cork direction, De Barra’s hosts its comedy night once a month, with Ardal O’Hanlon, David O’Doherty and Neil Delamere making appearances in the coming months.

And of course there’s the mainstay of the Cork comedy scene City Limits Comedy Club, with a reputation for brining the major names to Cork down through the years. Upcoming highlights at City Limits include Eddie Brill, Omid Djalili, Matt Saddlier, Jason Byrne & Andrew Maxwell.

Slayer
Live at the Marquee, Cork on 26th June.
Tickets will be â‚¬45 and will go on sale next Friday 16th Feb at 9am from all Ticketmaster outlets nationwide, Ph.0818 719 300 and online at www.aikenpromotions.com